


Stuck On The Puzzle

by fumicendra



Category: Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Band, Dark Magic, Elemental Magic, Ghosts, Haunted Houses, M/M, Magic, Mystery solving, Spirits, Supernatural Elements, Wicca, Witchcraft, powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24298033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fumicendra/pseuds/fumicendra
Summary: Ten guys who don't know each other end up in an old mansion that holds a mystery that only they can solve.(Also on Wattpad [@fumicendra])ON HIATUS
Relationships: Chris Cornell/Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament/Stone Gossard, Jerry Cantrell/Layne Staley (Mentioned), Matt Cameron/Kim Thayil
Comments: 19
Kudos: 27





	1. Intro: The Adress

_ November 1, 1985, Seattle, Washington. _

It was a windy day; a soft rain was pouring over the city. Stone stuffed his cold hands into his jacket pockets; he touched a crumpled paper. He didn’t remember putting that there, but he was a mess and lost and forget everything all the time, so he pulled it out of his pocket and unfolded it to read it.

“ _ November 1, 7:00 pm, Cedar Park nº205, Seattle, Washington.  _ ”

“What?” he mumbled to himself, he never heard of that address before he doubted that was his, much less to have some kind of appointment there. That was beside the lake, almost in Canada, at the other end of the city but he grew curious, he couldn’t deny he wanted to go and see if it was something he forgot about again even tho he thought that he’d remember something like that. He checked his watch—5 pm. And the date was today; maybe he could grab his dad’s (now his) old car and go check.

Jeff woke up, soaked in sweat and heavy breathing. He had the weirdest dream of the month, he always had a very vivid imagination and strange dreams, Jeff was an artist, he lived lost in his head imagining things, painting whatever it came to his mind, but this dream felt like it was real. There was this old lady by the lake telling him an address over and over, asking for help.

“ _ November 1, 7:00 pm, Cedar Park nº205, Seattle, Washington.  _ ” He whispered to the air.

After an hour, the dream was still in his head; he felt like it was haunting him. He checked the clock and immediately went to take a shower and get ready to go there. It was November 1st, and he still had plenty of time to get ready and go there to put some peace to his always racing and curious mind.

Eddie was sitting on his couch watching some TV when someone knocked on his door. He furrowed his eyebrows; he wasn’t expecting anyone today. He peered through the peephole and saw a young guy with a rather small box wearing a deliverer uniform. Eddie opened the door.

“I- I’m sorry, I didn’t order anything… you might have the wrong direction.” Eddie politely told him while anxiety was eating him, he was the worst at talking to people.

“Does Eddie Vedder live in here?” the young man said.

“Yeah, it’s me,” he replied, confused.

“Sign here, this is for you.” he extended him a notepad and a pen.

“Alright…” Eddie signed and took the box. “Thank you, I guess,” he said before closing the door and going inside to open the box. There was a small paper inside with a direction.

“ _ November 1, 7:00 pm, Cedar Park nº205, Seattle, Washington.  _ ”

Mike was at the record store, checking some vinyl, he just got paid from his part-time job at the local animal shelter, and he wanted to add a new piece to his collection. He grabbed one with a cover that caught his attention and took the vinyl out of the sleeve; a paper fell to the ground. He grabbed it and read it out loud:

“ _ November 1, 7:00 pm, Cedar Park nº205, Seattle, Washington.  _ ” Mike approached the counter where a teenager with long brown hair and a sign on his shirt that said  _ Dave A.  _ was sitting looking rather bored.  __ “Hey, this was in one of the sleeves, it must be yours.” He handed the paper to the guy. Who took it and read it.

“It’s not mine.” He replied, handing it back. “The date is from today.” Dave noticed. Suddenly Mike smiled wide.

“Hey kid, when do you finish your shift?” 

Dave raised his eyebrows “If you’re trying to hit on me I have to say that-” but Mike cut him.

“Not interested in kids.” Mike laughed.

“Ah, c’mon! I’m seventeen, you can’t be much older than me,” Dave complained. “By the way, I’ll be done at 6:15 pm.”

“I’m nineteen and do you want to do something interesting this afternoon?” Mike gave him half a mischievous smile.

“What kind of interesting?” Dave said, leaning on the counter, he was curious, and he was the kind of guy that was up for anything.

“Why don’t we go to the number 205 of Cedar Park at seven?” Mike was someone curious himself; he liked to do the first thing that came to his mind, there would be time to regret later; if he had the feeling that something was going to be fun, then he did it without a second thought.

“You know what? See you at 6:15. I’ll be ready.” Dave smiled, getting excited about it.

“Great, I’ll pick you up then, Dave.” Mike smiled. “Oh, and my name is Mike.” He stretched his hand, and Dave shook it. “See you in a while crocodile.”

“See ya!”

Chris was on his way to the grocery store, he ran out of almost everything, on his way there something made him quickly move and stretch his arms and with practically any notice he was stopping an old lady from falling to the ground.

“Oh sweetheart, thank you.” the old woman said to Chris, who was staring bewildered at her.

“I- No problem, Mrs.,” he replied, slowly letting her go. The lady stared at him, and Chris didn’t know what to say, trying to process what the hell did just happened.

“You know? You remind me of my grandson.” She smiled at Chris. “Tall and handsome.”

“Uh- Thank you.” Chris awkwardly replied. He was usually friendly and outgoing, but he was a bit stunned by the whole situation.

“No, thanks to you, I couldn’t have afforded to go to the hospital for a broken hip right now.” The lady laughed a bit and put a hand on his purse, taking out a paper. “Here, take this.” She handed Chris a small note. Chris read it.

“ _ November 1, 7:00 pm, Cedar Park nº205, Seattle, Washington.  _ ”

“What’s this?” he asked, taking off his eyes from the paper, but the woman was nowhere to be seen. “What?”

Matt pulled his wheelchair through the door of his apartment. He bent his torso to grab the mail from the mat. He needed to do something about that; it was kind of challenging to grab things from the floor when you can’t move your legs, maybe put a mailbox or something like that. He closed the door and checked the letters.

“Bill, bill, bill, mom…” he read to himself throwing the cards to the kitchen table. Then a brown envelope caught his attention. It didn’t have any return address; it just said his name. He opened it and found an equal brown paper with directions.

“ _ November 1, 7:00 pm, Cedar Park nº205, Seattle, Washington.  _ ”

He checked the time and decided he had enough time to grab a couple of buses and guess who the fuck wanted to see him that afternoon at the other side of the city.

Kim was roaming around his house; he was beyond angry. Who the fuck did that asshole think he was to insult him like that? He was usually a calm and collected person, but even he had a limit.

“Fucking racist,” he said. “ _ I’m sorry, Mr Thayil, but you can’t come to the university debate contest, people won’t take us seriously.  _ ” Kim mocked his modern philosophy teacher. He had the best grades of the class on that subject, he was more than capable of doing it, but since he started his studies that teacher was always discriminating him and making offensive comments. He tried to report him to the university’s rector, but it was useless, and it was important for his final grade to go to that contest. “Agh!” he screamed, letting himself fall hard on his couch, but as he did the vase, his mom gave him as a house-warming gift fell breaking into million pieces. “Shit,”

Kim got up wondering how it fell from the shelf, starting to collect the pieces of broken ceramic. His sight caught a note between them, and he took it.

“ _ November 1, 7:00 pm, Cedar Park nº205, Seattle, Washington.  _ ”

“What’s this?” he said but then realised the date was from that day and he thought that maybe driving there to check what was the note about will help him to calm him down and forget about his nazi teacher.

Ben was at the gym, running on the treadmill. Doing sport the whole afternoon was the only way he could release some of his energy without becoming frustrated. He had a little hyperactivity problem, so he was doing things all the time, he went to high school, and when he finished his homework, he went to hang out with friends or do some exercise. He checked the speed of the machine and thought it was an excellent time to go a bit faster. When he pressed the button, he felt an electric shook on his hand. He thought nothing of it, those machines were pretty old. That was until the numbers in the little screen started to flick, and he could perfectly read a sentence.

“ _ November 1, 7:00 pm, Cedar Park nº205, Seattle, Washington.  _ ”

In a bar in the city centre, Jerry was washing the dishes in the kitchen. It was a lazy evening, something he was grateful for, the cook was busy frying some chips when the waiter left a note on the counter.

“Table 4,” he said and left.

“Hey Jerry, can you read it for me? I’m busy over here” the guy said.

“I’m finishing washing this.” Jerry put on a lame excuse.

“C’mon man! The fries are gonna get burnt.” Jerry sighed.

“Fine.” he left the scourer and grabbed the paper. “Two cheese hamburgers, a… “ the letters started to dance in the paper, making it hard to decipher. “A… meat sandwich and uh-” he blinked hard. He was watching how the letters were rearranging over the paper. And suddenly he could perfectly read what it said.

“ _ November 1, 7:00 pm, Cedar Park nº205, Seattle, Washington.  _ ”

“Jesus boy, don’t you know how to read?” the man took the paper from his hand making him snap out.

“Sorry. I don’t understand Sean’s handwriting.” Jerry lied. The cook huffed and shooed him back to his place in the sink.

‘Fucking dyslexia.’ he angrily thought to himself not being able to take that address from his mind. That wasn’t how dyslexia worked, the letters didn’t just change their place to form another word or a sentence, and he was curious about it. His shift finished at 7:00 pm, but maybe he could go there even if he was going to be a bit late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was writing this story to myself and I thought it might be interesting. For now, I still have a lot of work to do on it so consider this a kind of a teaser (? I just wanted to know if you'll be willing to read it.
> 
> p.s.: I plan to finish my one-shots series, but they're hard to write and take time. Maybe I'll be back on Wattpad soon but I'm not sure (I have the same username and profile pic there if you want to check or hmu or whatever).


	2. The House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys arrive at the house and meet each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to treat you since you seemed to like it but this is all I'm posting for a while. This is long as shit (2949 words), sorry in advance.

Stone got to Cedar Park and kept looking at the numbers of the houses between the trees from his car window, but there wasn’t any 205 around there, the foggy and drizzly weather clouding his vision. He went down almost the whole neighbourhood already, and he was starting to get exasperated. He began to drive by the lakeshore, but that damn number wasn’t anywhere. He continued driving through the woods, leaving the residential area back. Maybe there were more houses around there. After another half an hour of trees and water, he saw a big house. It looked like an old XII century Romanesque mansion. He could tell by the windows that it had about three floors and an attic, besides the tower that sat over the pointy roof of the main building, the windows had semicircular arches shape on the third floor, mirroring the shape of the wide doorway, (which stood out of the wall framed by white granite) and rectangular shape on the firsts ones. It also had a large garden outside, but it was full of weeds and dead flowers, and it had a big old tree that had seen better days. A life-sized worn stone statue of a woman with laurel on her head, a stretched arm and a sorrowful facial expression as if she was begging for mercy, stood in the centre of the garden.  _ ‘Creepy’  _ Stone thought to himself. The huge house was built in black flint bricks, in comparatively small and irregular pieces. It had a tower with also pointy ends on each side. Two streetlights put there around the 18th century were at each side of the small steps that lead to the door.

It looked like no one lived there, but he saw the number on the fence, and it said ‘205’. He sighed relieved. He parked and got outside of the car to ring the bell, but he got no reply. He tried a few more times but nothing. Stone put his back against the car and started to smoke a cigarette, maybe whoever lived there, if someone lived there at all, was late. After two cigarettes, a black car parked beside his and a tall man with long curly dark hair and silver hops dangling on his ears got out of it. He stared at Stone looking at a small piece of paper. Stone thought that maybe he was his host, but he looked so young, and his skinny black jeans, combat boots and baggy shirt didn’t look like the kind of clothes someone who lived in a mansion would wear. He kept staring with his pale blue eyes.

“Take a picture - it’ll last longer.” Stone said sarcastically.

“Sorry,” the guy apologised. “Do you live here?”

“Do I look like I live here?” Stone raised one eyebrow. He himself was wearing a pair of jeans rolled up his ankle, worn-out high-top black converse, an old Unknown Pleasures shirt tucked in his jeans with his dad’s black shabby corduroy jacket. 

“Well, one never knows.” He shrugged.

“Now, you know.” Stone replied in a rough tone.

“Stop being rude, dude.” He complained being more amused than offended. “I bet you don’t know why you’re here either.”

Stone sighed. “Nope.” It wasn’t like he was harsh on purpose; he was just like that; it came out natural from him.

“By the way, I’m Christopher, Chris.” The tall guy introduced himself.

“Stone.” He replied not willing to make small conversation with Chris, looking at the rings on his left hand.

Mike was driving around the groves after not finding the address, he and Dave spent the whole way getting to know each other, sharing stories and blasting music singing from the bottom of their lungs. They had a very similar music taste and liked the same bands.

“Yo, Mike!” Dave exclaimed, turning down the music. “Look!” He pointed to the side of the road where a guy was struggling with his wheelchair.

Mike immediately pulled his car by the guy and rolled down the window. “Hey boy,” he said, catching the guy’s attention. “Need some help?”

“I’m looking for the 205, do you know where it is?” The guy replied, pulling his dark blonde hair out of his eyes.

“Nope but we’re looking for it too.” Mike smiled. “Have you heard that, Dave? This is getting interesting.” Both let out a small rascally laugh.

“We should give him a ride!” Dave proposed.

“You’re right!” Mike cheered. “Want a ride, pretty boy?” He gave him a crooked smile pulling his sunglasses down his nose.

“Why not?” He replied, blushing at the compliment. He was exhausted from pulling his chair through the leaves and the dirt. They were looking for the same place, what damage could it do?

“Go help him, Dave,” Mike ordered.

“I think I’ll need your help over here too,” Dave replied, getting out of the car.

“Coming!” Mike followed suit. “We’re Mike and Dave by the way.”

“Matt,” he said.

They helped Matt to get into the backseat, folded the wheelchair to put it on the car boot and resumed their driving. When they finally got there, they saw two cars already parked there with two guys smoking in silence by them who immediately turned their head at the sound of his truck.

“This is weird…” Matt mumbled.

“I hope by weird you mean cool, “ Mike smiled eagerly stopping the car and getting out. Dave behind him not wasting any time either. Matt was surprised by the guy’s attitude, how the fuck was that cool? They were in the middle of nowhere with people they didn’t know. “Hey!” He said, dragging the two guys attention. “Give us a hand here.” The taller guy didn’t miss a second and went to help them to get Matt out of the car back to his wheelchair.

“We’re Dave and Mike.” This time was Dave who introduced them. “And Professor X over here is Matt.” Mike laughed.

“I’m Chris, and that asshole over there is Stone,” the long-haired brunette flipped Chris off making him chuckle.

“Professor who?” Matt asked, furrowing his brows.

“Charles Xavier dude!” Dave exclaimed, sounding offended.

“C’mon the X-Men!” Mike mirrored Dave’s tone while Chris and Matt looked at them, shaking their heads in confusion.

“The Marvel comics! They’re classic literature man,” Dave complained.

“Damn right, they are!” Mike agreed, and they high fived.

“So you two are freaks,” Stone finally spoke.

“At least we’re not nicknamed  _ rock  _ dude,” Mike said.

“It’s not a nickname, idiot. It’s my actual name.” He replied, looking dead serious, making Mike open his eyes wide.

“Woah sorry, I’d be that bitter too if I had to go around calling myself Rock.” Mike and Dave giggled, and when Stone was about to reply, Matt interrupted him.

“C’mon guys, let’s focus on what’s important. Do any of you know what are we doing here?”

“Wait, you don’t know each other?” Chris asked, puzzled.

“Nah man, we meet a few hours ago and found the pretty boy here on the way,” Mike explained.

“You meet a few hours ago?” Now it was Matt’s turn to be perplexed. He would’ve sworn they knew each other for years. And why Mike didn’t stop calling him a pretty boy?

“Yeah,” Dave shrugged as if was the most normal thing to get along so well with someone you just met.

“Hey Dave, check this!” Mike called studying the house gates. “It’s open!” Dave jogged there and took a look; the lock was broken.

“I don’t think we should get in there without permission.” Matt pointed.

“Maybe whoever told us to come is waiting inside.” Mike reasoned.

“I ringed the bell a few times already, no one’s home.” Stone said.

“Maybe we should just go inside and investigate.” Mike talked again.

“Agreed.” Obviously, Dave was on the same page.

“I don’t know guys; I think Matt’s right,” Chris spoke.

“Too late,” Matt sighed, watching both younger boys already inside the sloppy garden. Chris went after them to try to convince them to come back, but they won’t listen getting into the also open house.

“Hello?” Mike asked to the air. “Is anybody home!?” But he got no reply.

“Yo, guys!” Dave said. “This is empty!”

“Already told you.” Stone rolled his eyes but started to walk towards them anyway. Matt followed.

“Hey, rude boy.” He called. “Can you help me over here? The wheels are tangling with the stems.” Stone sighed but pulled Matt’s chair along the garden up to the small steps and into the house.

Stone took a look inside. The hall was huge. High vaulted ceilings, a black marble statue of two women — one was standing on the other’s back, both holding candelabrums — proudly standing in the middle of it. Next to the highly ornamented stairs was a door in a semicircular arch shape that led to what seemed to be the living-room. The walls were made of dark limestone, giving the house a gloomy aura. It was cold inside; Stone could almost see his breath floating on the room. He kept pulling Matt’s chair through the big arch and into the living-room following the other three. The stance was wide,  _ ‘This room is bigger than my whole house, and we’re five, Jesus’  _ he thought to himself. Narrow windows were letting a poor light get through them. Under the most significant window were a small platform with a wooden desk and a carved red velvet armchair. There was a fireplace, a coffee table surrounded by two sofas and a big armchair. There also was a grandfather clock and about four glass cabinets with old books and all kind of antiquities. A massive chandelier hung on the ceiling. 

Dave and Mike sat on the sofa, not daring to check further into the eerie mansion.

“I guess we’ll have to wait until someone comes.” The older of the two said.

“Or we can wait outside and stop committing breaking and entering,” Matt suggested.

“You’re no fun, pretty boy,” Mike complained.

“Why do you call me like that?” Matt looked at him, confused.

“Well, you’re a boy, and you’re pretty,” Mike replied as if was the most obvious thing in the world putting his sunglasses on his hair now. Matt hadn’t been complimented like that in so long; he blushed a bit.

“Quit flirting, will ya?” Stone grumbled. “We have more important things to focus on.”

“Maybe Mike is right, and we should just wait here,” Chris said, sitting on the other sofa right in front of the dynamic duo. Stone sighed, giving in sitting on the large armchair that was perpendicular to the two couches, facing the unlit fireplace. They all fell silent until Mike took a better look at Dave.

“Dude does your tracksuit have rats on it?” He said, looking at the black clothes with white rats printed on the sides.

“Yeah, man,” Dave smiled wide.

“Yo dude that’s so cool.”

“This is gonna be a _ looong  _ afternoon.” Stone groaned.

“Hey, fella don’t you ever rest?” Mike rolled his eyes.

“He’s a grumpy man.” Chris laughed. He was too friendly to get annoyed by him. He knew that the boy would relax eventually.

“Hello?” A voice came from the hall.

“In here!” Dave shouted. A tall guy with short brown wavy hair walked into the living room, he was red-faced and covered in sweat. “Jesus man did you came running all the way from California?”

“Nah, I came on my bike, it just took me one and a half-hour.” The guy said as if it was nothing.

“Woah that’s a lot of time,” Mike was impressed.

“It’s nothing, a regular Sunday morning.” The guy said, still catching his breath and bouncing his leg.

“Can you sit, please?” Stone complained again. “You’re stressing me.”

“Uh, sure, sorry.” The very young-looking guy took a seat beside Chris but kept bouncing his leg and wiggling on his place.

“Are you hyperactive or something?” Stone raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, I am.” The guy confirmed.

“Don’t mind him; he has a stick up his ass. “ Mike said.

“He would be much more high-spirited if he got anything on his ass.” Dave made everyone laugh except obviously Stone. Mike high-fived him. “I’m Dave.”

“Ben.” The guy replied. But before the rest could introduce themselves, more voices came from the hall.

“Spit in the fire and call the dogs.” Stone rolled his eyes for the hundredth time since he got there when he saw a tall blonde guy with a bandana on his forehead coming onto the room followed by a short guy with long curly hair almost hiding behind him.

“Uh… Hello? I’m Jeff.” The blonde said a bit taken aback by the sight of six young guys sitting there. He wasn’t expecting that. “Does any of you live here or something?”

“Nope,” Mike said. “We’re all as confused as you.”

“Aha,” Dave confirmed.

“What’s your name?” Chris sweetly asked the obviously shy guy behind Jeff.

“Eh… I’m- I’m Eddie…” The blue-eyed said.

“Come sit with us guys; I don’t think anyone is coming soon to welcome us.” Chris kept his friendly voice, making a place for the boys on the sofa. Eddie sat beside Chris quickly feeling like he was the most approachable person there, feeling more safe sitting by his side than near anyone else and Jeff sat on the corner of the other sofa, near Stone. 

Another hour went by, and the clock was showing 7:30 pm. Chris turned on the lights since it was getting dark outside. The light was warm coloured, but it didn’t make the room look any more pleasant and welcoming. Mike and Dave were joking around and being stupid while the rest of them were making small chat every now and then. Stone was irked by their voices and the awkwardness of the situation, the thunder buddies were too loud, and Ben and Eddie won’t stop bouncing their legs. They were sending him to the edge. And of course, steps were coming from the hall a-fucking-gain. He only wished this time it was the actual owner of the house to tell them why the fuck they reunited them all there with no further explanation than an address, a date and a time. But much to his dismay another young boy came looking like a lumberjack. He had messy long black hair, dark skin, a full beard and was dressed in a flannel plaid shirt over a white t-shirt, light jeans and light brown boots.

“Oh great, another one.” Stone sighed defeated.

“Cranky kid.” The boy said, raising his eyebrows. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“That’s what we all want to know,” Matt told him.

“Come join the club,” Jeff invited him to sit with them.

Mike proceeded to tell him everyone’s names while he took place beside him on the opposite Jeff’s corner, filling the only vacant place on that couch. “I’m Kim. Nice to meet you.” he politely said. The drive had calmed him from his previous anger.

“I swear if someone else crosses that door, I’m gonna-” Stone started to bitch again, but as if he invoked it another bearded boy came into the room rushing a bit, but this one was blonde.

“Hey, sorry for being late, my name is Jerry,” he said.

“This is the last straw, how many more are yet to come?” Stone got up exasperated.

“Hey, calm down rock boy,” Mike told him. “We know as much as you.”

“Oh c’mon quit calling me that.” He said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

“Oh, I’m sorry, sire. Didn’t mean to bother you.” Mike sarcastically said, sticking out his tongue.

“Very grown-up of you.” Stone crossed his arms, looking up Mike’s nose.

“Stop arguing you two.” Chris tried to avoid the situation getting any further. He knew Mike was just having fun teasing Stone and wasn’t taking anything seriously, but he could see Stone was quick-tempered and getting really angry.

“Maybe we should just play a game to get to know each other better while we wait.” Ben eagerly suggested.

“That’s-”

“A fucking stupid idea.” Stone angrily interrupted. “I’m fucking leaving! This has to be some fucking twisted joke. No one’s coming; someone is just taking us for fools.” He rushed to the door, hearing Chris call after him. But he didn’t listen. He just kept walking through the garden and opened the gate, but when he took another step, he stopped dead on his tracks. He felt his heart racing, and his stomach did a flip. He felt as if all the air was drained from his lungs. “Guys…” He mumbled as if he just had seen a ghost. He was in the living room again.

Everyone turned at the sound of his voice, opening his eyes wide. “Didn’t you just leave?” Jerry slowly asked.

“I was about to cross the gate… And I was suddenly here.” He replied still, not moving.

“What do you mean?” Matt said.

“I mean that I have the feeling that we can’t leave.” Stone said with a blank face.

“You can’t be serious…” Mike spoke, thinking for the first time on that day that he might have made a mistake by going there. “C’mon Dave, let’s check.” Both boys got up and ran outside just to appear beside Stone a minute later. Everyone fell silent.

“Hey Ben, do you still wanna play that game?” Dave said.

“I-” Ben started, but heavy breathing interrupted him. Eddie was hyperventilating. Chris quickly held his hand.

“Hey Eddie, calm down, look at me,” He said worriedly. “What’s wrong pal?”

“P-panic panic attack.” Eddie panted.

“This is a fucking mess.” Stone huffed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think and if there are any mistakes.
> 
> p.s.: dave's is wearing the outfit he wore in the unplugged and chris is dressed as he was in "singles". stone looks like in the mother love bone era with the rings and the wavy hair and everything.


	3. The Boys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'll officially start to post in august but i had this finished for a while so enjoy i guess; let me know what you think.

It took a while to calm Eddie down, but finally, the guy was breathing normally, looking at the ceiling with his head resting on the back of the sofa. Everyone was sitting again, looking awkwardly at each other, not knowing what to say or what to do.

“It’s getting cold.” Chris casually said, trying to break the silence.

“Maybe if we put Ben’s and Eddie’s legs together we can light the fireplace.” Stone nonchalantly replied, playing with one of his rings. Everyone looked at him.

“Ha, ha, very funny.” Ben scoffed, and Eddie lowered his head.

“No one ever smashed your face with that attitude?” Jerry snorted.

“Some people tried.” Stone shrugged still not taking his eyes from his hands, making clear that he didn’t care about the conversation.

“I’ll gladly be the first one to do it.” Jerry rolled his eyes. Stone raised his head to stare at him with dark green eyes.

“Come here and see what happens,” he said with a plain voice that sounded really threatening.

“ _ Okaaay  _ …” Jeff interrupted with his eyes wide-open at Stone’s boldness.

“Why don’t we look for something to light the fire and then try to address the situation.” Kim proposed. 

“Sounds good.” Chris agreed. “C’mon guys.” He said, standing up.

All the boys started roaming around the stance, checking every cabinet. Stone found a box of matches in a drawer of the big desk and went back. He grabbed some firewood that was on an iron basket by the fireplace, putting it into the hearth. First, he set some little sticks and a small log on the base and put more logs on a pyramid shape in a way that air could get through the whole structure and then lighted it. He blew a bit of air, and in no time a small but solid fire was set casting a dim light in the room. Matt turned his chair and saw it.

“Hey, guys!” he called. “Stone lighted the fire!”

Everyone came back while Stone sat on the armchair again. They all looked at him again. “There were matches on the desk.” he calmly said.

“Why didn’t you said anything?” Jerry raised an eyebrow and Stone just shrugged. “Dipshit,” he mumbled.

“I’ve heard that.” Stone replied. 

“Good because I wanted you to hear me.”

“I think if we’re stuck here together, we should at least try to get along, try to know each other better and stop fighting, y'know?” Kim said.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Chris agreed. Everyone sat back on their previous place. “Why don’t we introduce each other, taking turns? Like our name, age and that stuff?” He suggested. Of course, Stone snorted.

“What is this? A freshmen high school class?”

“Stop being a killjoy rock boy,” Mike said.

“How old are you all by the way?” Kim asked. ”You all look so young.”

“I’m sorry tyrannosaurus rex,” Ben joked.

“Not saying it’s something bad!” Kim laughed. “I’m twenty-five.”

“A complete grandpa.” Ben kept it going earning chuckles from the rest.

“How old are you, embryo?” He replied in a challenging tone keeping the joke.

“I’m seventeen.” Ben gave him a sassy half-smile.

“Oh my god, you’re an actual baby.” Kim laughed.

“Hey! I’m seventeen too,” Dave complained.

“This time I have to give the sour boy credit, this is a freshman high school class.” Kim retorted.

“Ah, c’mon, I’m twenty-two.” Matt rolled his eyes amused.

“Yeah me too.” Jeff defended himself.

“I thought you were my age, pretty boy,” Mike told Matt.

“How old are you?” Matt furrowed his brows.

“Don’t worry sugar, I’m legal.” he winked at him, and Matt’s cheeks got red. “I’m nineteen.” He

couldn’t believe a kid was making him blush. He rolled his eyes and smiled to conceal the colour on his face.

“I’m also nineteen.” Jerry talked.

“I’m twenty-one,” Chris said and then looked at the small boy by his side. “And you, Eddie?” He politely said with a smile to encourage him to talk. He was too shy for his own good.

“I’ll be twenty-one next month…” he mumbled, and it was the longest sentence he had said since he arrived.

“We’re the same age then,” Chris smiled at him, he returned a tight-lip smile. He didn’t know why he felt such a need to make Eddie feel comfortable, but he wanted the boy to loosen up a bit since they were stuck there for God knew how long.

Suddenly everyone looked at Stone. He looked like he wasn’t paying attention even tho he listened and rolled his eyes to everything. “You’re not gonna tell us your age, asshat?” Jerry spat. “Not that we care but at least try to be part of the group, you’re as fucked as us.” Stone let out a heavy sigh.

“Nineteen.” He shortly replied.

“So I was right, I’m the older one here,” Kim commented.

“Guys I’m hungry,” Mike interrupted.

“Yeah me too,” Dave agreed.

“Same,” Ben said.

“If we’re trapped here, how are we supposed to get food?” Matt reasoned.

“Maybe we should go and find the kitchen,” Ben suggested.

“Like hell I’m moving from here, there’s something bad in this house,” Mike stated, and Dave nodded in agreement.

“Ah c’mon,” Stone mocked him.

“Dude, you mysteriously appeared here when you tried to leave,” Mike replied. “That’s not something that could happen in not-supernatural circumstances,” he said as matter-of-factly.

“Fine, I’ll go look for the kitchen,” Stone rolled his eyes getting up.

“I don’t think you should go alone,” Chris said.

“Then come with me,” he shrugged.

“In horror movies, the ones that don’t believe in ghosts are the first one to die.” Dave pointed.

“It’s usually the asian, the black, the fat and the disabled people the first ones to die,” Jerry said as the big fan of horror movies he was.

“I’m a black asian,” Kim replied.

“And I’m disabled,” Matt added.

“Well, nice to meet you guys,” Mike told them making the boys laugh.

“Well, none of us is fat, so I guess the next one would be Stone,” Dave said.

“This is not a fucking horror movie,” Stone cut the conversation. “Christopher, are you coming or no?”

“Sure,” Chris got up.

“I don’t know guys I think we should stick together just in case,” Matt spoke.

“Yeah, he’s right, I spend my whole free time watching horror movies, split up is never a good idea.” Jerry got up too.

“Stop acting like this is a fucking movie. If you wanna come then let’s go,” Stone turned around and started to walk towards the big door at the other end of the room.

Everyone got up, Mike pulling Matt’s chair, following Stone, there was a short hall with a dresser and bare walls that led to the kitchen. It was almost as big as the living room, full of cupboards and drawers and a big island in the middle where the stoves were placed. Stone found the switch and turned on the lights.

“There are a fridge and a walk-in freezer,” Kim observed.

“And electricity too, clearly people habited this house for centuries modernising it with time,” Stone added walking around the stance. 

Matt approached the sink and opened the tap to see water running. “There’s also tap water,” he frowned. “Or someone is paying the bills, or this has its own energy and water supply.”

“The fridges and drawers are full of fresh food.” Mike opened the walk-in fridge after peering all the cupboards.

“Maybe someone actually lives here,” Chris said.

“Or whatever trapped us here doesn’t want us to die,” Dave shrugged.

“At least not for now, there’s enough for at least a month,” Mike replied kind of impressed.

“So who knows how to cook?” Ben asked.

“I do,” Jeff raised his hand. “I can try to fix us some dinner.”

“Cool.”

After a while, they were all sitting by the fireplace again, eating the sandwiches Jeff made for everyone. They were praising him and telling him he was the designed cook while they were there. Jeff smiled proudly. He knew how to do everything that meant «create». Painting, drawing, writing, cooking, making music, taking photos, making videos like short movies, he was a natural artist. He was doing things all the time, that was why he was so good at everything he liked to do; he just did it non-stop. He even made half of his own clothes. He had to get shitty jobs and move away from his parents and Montana to follow his artsy lifestyle, but he thought it was worth it.

“We should keep trying to figure out how to get the hell out of here,” Stone interrupted the small conversation that was going on without him by his own choice.

“I don’t think we’re gonna accomplish that tonight,” Kim told him.

“Maybe we should rest and try it in the morning.” Chris proposed.

“I saw some blankets in one of the drawers earlier,” Ben said getting up to get them.

“I’m going outside to smoke,” Stone said, putting a cigarette on his mouth.

“I think we settled that we weren’t gonna split up,” Jerry told him annoyed.

“I need a smoke.”

“We can smoke here,” Eddie mumbled earning looks from everyone, they were surprised he talked without being asked.

“Yeah, I need a smoke too,” Chris agreed.

Ben left the blankets on the coffee table and watched as everyone was smoking, he did sport all the time, so he quit smoking moths ago. “We need to figure out how are we gonna sleep in here. Couches are too small.”

“We can move the table and put the pillows on the carpet,” Jeff proposed.

“Good idea,” Ben replied.

“Let’s do it then,” Kim said getting up followed by everyone except Stone who was biting his tongue trying not to make any more bitter remarks about how they were acting as if they were putting together a sleepover with friends.

The boys started to put the pillows and blankets over the carpet moving the sofas trying to make enough space to fit seven of them; Stone would sleep on the armchair and two of them, one being Matt for obvious reasons, would rest on each sofa. As they were going on, they were quiet for Stone’s pleasure until Jerry broke the silence.

“Oh shit!” He cursed.

“What?” Mike asked.

“I have to work in the morning,” He sighed.

“I don’t think you’re going back to work anytime soon, dude,” Mike patted his shoulder.

“Fuck, Layne’s coming to spend the weekend.” Jerry lamented. “At least he has my house key to feed Osiris and Sadie,” he sighed.

“Who the fuck are them?” Dave asked.

“Layne is my boyfriend, and Osiris and Sadie are our cats, they live in my flat because Layne’s moving with me soon,” Jerry explained.

“Are you gay?” Kim looked at him with curiosity.

“Actually, I’m bisexual, any problem with that?” Jerry retorted getting defensive.

“No, man, it was just a question,” Kim said softly.

“Good you don’t have a problem because I’m bi too,” Mike said.

“Me too,” Chris spoke.

“Everyone likes boys here or what?” Ben joked.

“Nah, I don’t, or at least I don’t think so,” Kim smiled.

“Neither do I,” Dave replied.

“I’m not sure if I do,” Ben shrugged.

“You’re still young, you’ll figure it out eventually,” Kim told him softly, despite the jokes about him being a child he was sort of developing a soft spot for the kid in a parent-like or big brother kind of way. Ben gave him a smile sensing the lack of mocking and the sincerity of those words.

“I’m assuming that everyone who didn’t reply is because they do,” Mike talked again.

“Yep,” Jeff said.

“Me too,” Matt gave him half a smile.

“I do too,” Eddie whispered.

“Aren’t you gonna tell us, Stoney?” Jerry teased when the brunette was again the only one that didn’t include himself in the conversation and didn’t say a word.

“Don’t call me like that,” Stone grunted.

“Chill, rock boy,” Mike joined the teasing, “it’s a simple question, are you a fag or not?” He laughed a bit.

“C’mon don’t be shy,” Dave held back his laugh by biting his lip.

“Fuck off, will ya?” Stone watched the three of them laugh at him.

“C’mon guys, don’t be like that,” Chris said, feeling sympathetic for Stone but also amused. 

“Anyways you like guys or not?” Ben said.

“Yeah, I suck dick, are you happy now?” Stone huffed.

“Yes,” Jerry replied with a shit-eating grin as Mike and Dave giggled.

“This is gonna be long,” He sighed.

“So you and this guy Layne are in the moving and own pets together phase already?” Chris asked in that always friendly tone of his.

“Yeah man,” Jerry smiled big and bright making Chris smile too, “We’ve been together for over two years now, and now that he has a job too he’s finally moving with me,” he said proudly. He was so in love with Layne.

“Lucky you,” Chris said. Jerry smiled at him as they continued arranging the pillows and blankets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i posted a note on (barely) alive if you want to check; hope you liked this one


	4. The cat

It was 5 a.m when Stone suddenly woke up from yet another nightmare. He tried to control his panting, putting a hand in his chest while making sure that no one saw him. Luckily everybody was still asleep. He looked around, the sun wasn’t even up yet, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again, so he just stirred up listening to his neck and back crack from the uncomfortable sitting position he slept in and closed his eyes hoping to at least rest his mind a bit. He’d been fighting with those terrible nightmares for a few years now, and they were always about the same shit, he was actually seeing a therapist, but there was only so much he could do without his pills. Stone felt so stressed overthinking about how he was going to manage his mental state with all those nightmares and flashbacks all by himself. He rubbed his face with his palms, heavily sighing. At least, much to his dismay, he was glad Chris and Eddie were there and knew how to deal with panic attacks. He hoped he wouldn’t have one and have to ask for their help though.

A sudden feeling of something touching his socked feet made him jump and open his eyes wide. He saw a black cat rubbing himself on his legs and then jumping on his lap staring at him with big emerald eyes, similar to his own. Stone didn’t move; he just stared at the animal thinking that maybe a window somewhere might be open and that’s probably how the most-likely stray cat got into the mansion. The cat kept looking as if waiting for something. Stone warily petted him and soon he was rubbing himself all over him. Then the cat got back to the floor and mowed.

“Shhh,” Stone whispered. “You’re gonna wake someone.” The cat meowed again. “What do you want?” and again. “Want some food?” Stone stood up and started to walk towards the kitchen, but the cat didn’t move, he just meowed again and began to walk towards the hall. “Do you want me to follow you?” he told the cat still talking in whispers. “As if he’s gonna reply,” Stone muttered to himself rolling his eyes but started to follow the cat who seemed to understand him. Stone shook his head, thinking he may be imagining stuff due to the lack of sleep.

The cat walked and stopped at the door waiting for Stone to open up. Once he did they both got outside and walked until they arrived at the statue, he saw when they got in, the one of a woman stretching her arm with a pained expression as if she was crying for help. He rubbed his jet black fur against the engraving. Stone kneeled and tried to read it, but it just had a bunch of weird fading symbols he was unable to decipher.

“Dude, I can’t read this shit I don’t know what do you want me to do,” He gravely told the cat, who sat and stared at him cocking his head to the side. “I’m sorry bud.” He said kind of feeling bad for not understanding him. Stone petted his head after he let out a soft meow and sighed. “Let’s go inside before those bitches wake up and give me shit for going around alone.” He rolled his eyes and watched the first rays of sunshine, showing up as he got up and back inside with the animal following him. “I think I’m losing my mind talking to you, but it looks like you understand and I gotta pee, do you know where the bathroom is?” 

The cat meowed again and started to walk towards the stairs. Stone followed suit until they got to the mezzanine, which had four doors, the cat stopped in front of one of them and sat. Stone opened the door and faced a wide stance with ugly military green painted chipped walls with big white tiles on the floor. At the far end was a bathtub under a huge round window from where you could see the backyard and the lake. The toilet and the bidet were in the right wall in the middle of the room, right in front of a counter with two sinks and cabinets under them that had a big cloudy slightly cracked mirror hanging above it. “Okay, so you can understand me after all,” Stone told the animal getting into the bathroom and closing the door behind him. He heard the cat scratching the door and meowing, so he opened again letting the cat in “But you’re still a cat.” He rolled his eyes. “What’s with cats and always wanting to be in the bathroom while humans are in?” He asked while peeing. The cat meowed, and it oddly sounded like a shrug. Stone shook his head and wiped himself, pulling up his boxers and pants back on, flushing the toilet after that. He washed his hands and went back to the living room where everyone was, thankfully, still asleep.

He sat back on the armchair, and the cat jumped and laid down on his lap, curling into a ball softly purring at Stone’s strokes on his back. He closed his eyes again, hoping to get a bit of rest, slowly drifting into sleep.

When Stone opened his eyes again half an hour later, he saw an empty spot where one of the two blondes was sleeping, the cat still on his lap. He was about to get up and go to the kitchen to look for him since he was the only one who actually could cook, but a voice stopped him.

“Don’t move!” The male voice exclaimed in a whisper startling him and making the cat jump a bit.

“What the fuck dude?” Stone told him, moving his head to see the hippie-looking boy sitting on the desk with a pencil staring at a piece of paper.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Jeff softly apologised. “I thought the cat looked cute; I’m drawing you both.” He explained a bit embarrassed, expecting Stone to snap at him as he snapped to everyone the day before.

“Whatever, Jake,” He dismissed him turning his attention to the cat not awake enough to get mad at anyone yet.

“It’s Jeff,” He corrected him.

“Yeah, yeah, that,” Jeff rolled his eyes, he was kind to everyone, and he wanted to be nice to Stone, but he made it really hard.

He continued drawing very happy to have found paper and pencil on the desk drawers; he left his bag with his art blog and supplies along with his camera on the car. He couldn’t retrieve it given the circumstances. Hence, he was worried of not being able to draw or paint until they got out and since they didn’t know in how long that would be he started to frantically look into every drawer until he finally found some, Jeff got very stressed thinking that maybe he wouldn’t be able to draw.

“Anyways, where did that cat come from?” Jeff whispered, not taking his eyes off the paper.

“Dunno,” Stone shrugged. “Appeared a few hours ago,”

“Hm,” He replied, becoming completely focused on his work. Soon another idea came to his mind and discarded the old sheet of paper to grab another one and start another drawing; it was the third one in the last hour. Half an hour later, he stopped and looked at Stone. “Hey, maybe we should wake the others and go make breakfast.” Jeff got up from the chair and sat on his sleeping spot on the floor, cross-legged staring at Stone.

“Please, don’t,” Stone told him, enjoying too much the peace and quiet of the room.

Jeff was trying his best not to turn around and wake up everyone not wanting to piss Stone off, but it was taking a lot of him, yesterday he was worn-out, but today he rested, and he had plenty of energy, and his mind was running one hundred miles per hour. “But it could be dangerous if we go on our own,”

“There’s nothing dangerous here, Jeff,” Stone rolled his eyes. “If you’re so hungry, then let’s go.”

“Nevermind, I’ll wait for them.” He sighed and started to tap his fingers against his leg, not knowing what to do with himself. Stone wasn’t exactly the best company or the most talkative person, and Jeff got bored quickly, so he decided that maybe he could draw some more.

“Whatever,” Stone replied, petting the cat watching Jeff getting into business again.

No more than ten minutes later, Ben woke up and started to roam around the room not able to stand still and talking no end with Jeff about anything that came to his mind, both continually interrupting each other and changing the subject. It was giving Stone a headache, although they kept their voices low. And Stone thought Jeff was quiet; maybe the previous day he was just feeling shy, but he was showing he was far from quiet and shy. The next one in waking up was Eddie, but he just looked around and stayed quiet sitting on his spot looking very tired.

“Morning Ed!” Ben said excitedly.

“Shhh!” Stone scolded, but it was too late.

“What’s with all this noise?” Jerry grunted.

“Great,” Stone rolled his eyes.

“Are you already complaining this early?” Jerry said.

“Please, you two don’t start.” Chris opened his eyes.

“Good morning,” Kim said.

“Morning!” Ben replied.

“Morning, kid,” he smiled at Ben.

“Some of us are trying to sleep,” Dave mumbled.

“What Dave said,” Mike turned around and closed his eyes again,

“Morning, can someone help me to get to my chair, please?” Matt said, using his arms to get into a sitting position.

“Oh, I’ll go,” Mike said suddenly very awake getting on his feet to help Matt to sit.

“Thanks,” Matt whispered.

“It’s nothing, pretty boy.” Mike gave him a lop-sided smile, and Matt felt his cheeks growing hot. 

“Why don’t we go to have breakfast?” Ben said, almost jumping on his feet, eager to leave the living room and  _ do something _ .

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Jeff agreed with a smile.

“Good ‘cause I’m hungry as fuck,” Dave said, getting up.

“Hey rock boy what’s with the cat?” Mike said, staring at the ball of black fur in Stone’s lap.

“He just appeared this morning,” Stone shrugged trying to ignore the nickname.

“Let me check him,” Mike approached Stone and carefully grabbed the big cat. “You’re used to people, aren’t you?” Mike told the cat with a smile; he was so soft with him; it was like the mischievous, chaotic Mike was gone. “Okay, look at me,” Mike sat on the couch and did and checked with his eyes and hands that everything was okay. “He seems like a healthy young boy; he seems like he belongs to someone.”

“I’d say he’s around two years old,” Jerry commented. “But he’s huge.”

“Are you two experts on cats or something?” Kim asked.

“Oh no, I just love cats, had ‘em all my life.”

“I work at the animal shelter since I was fifteen and I’m studying for a vet, so yeah, I’m kind of an expert,” Mike explained leaving the heavy cat on the floor, he returned to Stone’s lap. “Looks like someone in this room finally likes you, Rockey.” He laughed at Stone, who flipped him off.

“Enough talking,” Dave clapped his hands and got up, “let’s go eat!”

“Hell yeah!” Mike said, getting on his feet, returning to his usual self.

“Finally!” Ben said.

“I’ll make coffee,” Kim said.

“I’ll cook something.” Jeff followed.

“Are you hungry, Eddie?” Chris softly asked the boy, who slowly shook his head no. “Are you okay?” Eddie nodded and got up.

“Let’s go,” he mumbled, and Chris smiled at him getting up.

“C’mon! Don’t get left behind!” Mike shouted from the door, pulling Matt’s chair.

“What if we do? Is some spirit going to come to murder us?” Stone let out a small sarcastic laugh.

“Probably, so come on.” He replied.

Stone put the cat on the floor and started to walk towards the door where everyone was waiting for him; the animal followed suit. “This morning I’ve been around the garden and found the bathroom, nothing weird happened.” He said as they all got to the kitchen.

“Do whatever you want, you won’t be a great loss, anyways,” Jerry said patting lightly Stone’s shoulder with an ironic smile.

In a split-second, Stone turned, grabbing Jerry’s forearm, and made him turn, pressing his body to the counter, immobilising him by putting Jerry’s arm against his back and his hand on Jerry’s shoulder making him bend over the counter. Everyone stayed silent, surprised at what just happened. It was so fast nobody had the time to react.

“What the hell is wrong with you!?” Jerry screamed, trying to get rid of Stone.

“Don’t, fucking, touch me.” Stone hissed. He kept his voice aggressive and low, but the silence in the stance allowed everyone to listen. Stone let him go.

“You’re fucking crazy,” Jerry replied, straightening his clothes.

“I don’t fucking care, but don’t fucking touch me.” Stone was heavily breathing. He looked at everyone. “That goes for everyone.” The cat rubbed against his legs, trying to calm him down.

“The cat too?” Mike said.

“Shut up,” Kim softly warned him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know i said i was gonna start to publish in august but right now everything's a mess so expect slow updates for a while


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